The Trump administration Sunday condemned Syrian President Bashar Assad’s offensive in Eastern Ghouta in defiance of a 30-day, United Nations-backed ceasefire that’s seen at least 20 bombing missions each day by Russian jets.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement released the Russian government backs Assad’s offensive and compared it to the attacks on Aleppo in 2016.
“Russia has gone on to ignore its terms and to kill innocent civilians under the false auspices of counterterrorism operations,” Sanders said in the statement. “This is the same combination of lies and indiscriminate force that Russia and the Syrian regime used to isolate and destroy Aleppo in 2016, where thousands of civilians were killed.”
According to Sanders, Russian jets conducted at least 20 bombing missions each day between between Feb. 24 and Feb. 28 on Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus.
She called on the Assad regime to immediately stop the offensive in accordance with the UN resolution.
“Pro-regime forces must immediately cease targeting medical infrastructure and civilians as part of the brutal campaign in Eastern Ghouta. The civilized world must not tolerate the Assad regime’s continued use of chemical weapons,” she said.
“The Assad regime, along with its backers in Moscow and Tehran, should adhere to UNSCR 2401, cease hostilities in and around Eastern Ghouta, and allow unfettered delivery of humanitarian aid to the nearly 400,000 innocent civilians in critical need.”
